DDL Holdings INC.

So, there's 100m3 free, I slap in a 50m3 ice mining drone and then 25m3 for mining drones, what should I do with the spare 25m3? Light Combat Drones? or Salvage Drones? Something else? (Cause I have an orca with two tractor beams and two salvagers already, so figured no need for salvage drones) Or perhaps this means I'm fitting my orca wrong? Maybe a heavy combat drone each in the case of gank? (I'm in HiSec btw.) But even if that was the case, wouldn't be running be the better option than throwing a heavy drone at a suicider?

Pandemic Horde Inc.

Pandemic Horde

First of all, if you're running both ice and regular mining drones you're almost assuredly doing it wrong. You can't mine both at the same time, so there's no reason to waste drone bay space. Second of all, a heavy drone is going to be extremely ineffective against a suicide gank because a) suicide ganks usually use Catalysts, which are small ships, while heavy drones are battleship sized weapons and b) you're not likely to kill the ganker before CONCORD arrives. It would definitely be wiser to run from a ganker than fight (if he's engaging that means he's confident of victory). Personally, I would bring medium ECM drones on the Skiff and a flight of lights on the Orca for killing rats and medium ECM drones for trying to live through a gank. I'd also include some shield links on the Orca, to increase the tank of both ships. Medium ECM drones might give you a shot at surviving a gank, since they might be able to jam out a ganker, but those should be a last line of defense. Your best defense a gank is to not be there when the gankers land, your second best defense is to be a less appetizing target than the other guy.

I'm going to build a big wall that will keep the Gallente out, and they're going to pay for it!

Star Explorers

Reckoning Star Alliance

If you are solo mining in hisec, I would use 1x light combat drone to kill the belt rats and 4x ECM drones to deter ganks. Combat drones are very unlikely to kill a ganker before CONCORD does, and ECM drones give you an increased chance to survive a gank if you land a jam. ECM drones also act as a deterrent - why gank the skiff with ECM drones when there is a defenseless retriever in the next belt over?

Replace the ECM drones with mining drones based on your risk tolerance.

Brand Newbros

Test Alliance Please Ignore

You really only need to think about killing rats from time to time. If they are going to gank your skiff, there will be so many of them that ecm drones likely won't save you. There will be enough to keep you held till you die or concord saves you. It is rare that a well tank skiff gets targeted.

You want to highsec mine.. do the things you need to do to stay safe. Flag the right corps red.. have gate scouts.. trust no one.. mine in low traffic systems and be ready to skiddattle when you see people coming into system.. trust no one... don't have your orca pilot in a corp because wardecs kill more orcas/skiff than ganks do. etc etc etc